Volume 30: Issue 3 ● Apri l 2015

A Publ ication of the Pine

Mountain Lake Aviat ion

Associat ion

Flying The Hump Larry Jobe

Saturday, May 2nd McGowan’s Hangar @6PM

 

Larry’s main job is selling real estate for Yosemite Area Real Estate but while not doing that he is involved in a major project in China. He has just returned from China where he and Nina participated in the dedication of the “Flying Tiger Heritage Park” museum, located in Guilin, China, Larry will give us an update on the Park progress. 9 years in the making, the joint project is about to come to fruition. In celebration of the 70th year anniversary of the ending of hostilities in Asia, the Flying Tiger Historical Organization, of which Larry is president, will fly a C 47 from India to Guilin, China where the plane will be a part of the new museum’s display. Their plans for that event will be discussed, along with a little bit of past history and a little bit of the current plans with several of our Pine Mountain Lake friends and pilots who are involved.

Artist Rendition of the Flying Tiger Heritage Park Museum

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President’s Message By Catherine Santa Maria

Trivia Contest Winners Greg Triplett, Dale Mueller

Counting the Winning Prize Money

hope you all enjoyed the April Safety “Calcutta” Trivia contest. Our moderator Marle Hewett did a great job coming up with questions that were

challenging for all of our volunteer pilots. Marle worked over the questions and answers several times before he was satisfied. Team number seven lead by Dale Mueller won the contest and the team was awarded half of the auction money, which totaled $223.50. From the comments after the meeting it was clear that those participating had a great time. I sure enjoyed being the auctioneer for the event. Many thanks to our volunteer pilots: Dianne Cole, Gabe Coelho, Allen Craig, Mike Gustafson, Dale Mueller, Lynne and Ken Orloff, Norm Peebles, Jim Thomas, and Bonnie Richie for working with their teams and doing their best to come up with the answers to the challenging questions. We have three calendars that have all been autographed by the owners of the aircraft pictured- these will be collector’s items. I am certainly going to try and get one so I am bidding $25.00 for one. If you are interested in joining me, bid on the item too. Our May meeting is just around the corner. Our speaker with be PMLAA member Larry Jobe who will be talking about Flying the Hump and will give us an update on the Flying Tiger Heritage Park Museum.

Social Column By Kym Purifoy

ay's meeting menu will be "It's whats for breakfast". Please bring a salad, dessert, appetizer and/or you favorite breakfast

recipe. A special thank you to Janet Black for laundering the tablecloths, and as always all the set up & tear down helpers. Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work. Among English speakers, "breakfast" can be used to refer to this meal or to refer to a meal composed of traditional breakfast foods (such as eggs, porridge and sausage) served at any time of day. The word literally refers to breaking the period of the prior night. It has its origin in the Christian custom of fasting from food between the supper meal of one day and receiving Holy Communion the following morning (such a Eucharistic fast is still observed by Orthodox Christians, but is shortened to one hour before Mass for Roman Catholics). Foregoing the natural craving to eat was seen as an act of self-denial that honors God, while strengthening the religious resolve and faith of the believer Breakfast Recipes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/easy-breakfast-for-dinner-recipes

Seen Around The Airport Ken Orloff recently completed his plans-built Marquart Charger, and can be seen flying his masterpiece most weekends. Bonnie Ritchey captured this photo of Ken and his plane.

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What’s All This RTTF Stuff Anyway? By Mike Gustafson

istorically PML Airport has been funded through a combination of airport sources such as fuel-flowage, hangar rentals and tie-down

fees; County General Fund supported by property taxes; and an occasional local airport fundraiser. Both County funding options have dried up to just a trickle and the $55,000 we raised a few years back was spent on runway and taxiway improvements. In order to continue to maintain the airport and even improve things we may need to consider other options. Over the last 4 or 5 years we have heard about some FAA project called RTTF or “Residential Through The Fence.” This all began due to FAA funding issues and how money was being doled out to US airports. Every public use airport can apply for grants from the FAA, and the amount available is not trivial. Typical grants vary from $150,000 to millions, but there are strings attached. Most airports are commercial or public use and do not include residences with “access” to the airport or “airside.” PML does and that causes a problem with FAA Grant funding. The FAA wants aviation business on the “airside” to pay their fair share of funding the airport; any Through The Fence, or “TTF” operations, are also expected to also pay their fair share. Once an airport accepts Grant Funding, the FAA requires the owner/operator, or “Sponsor,” to guarantee that the Sponsor abides by FAA rules such as: collecting access fees from each access point, controlling non-aircraft movement in and around the airport, providing fair rights to all aviation business, and prohibiting commercial activities on the residential side of the airport. Furthermore, the Sponsor must have an access agreement with each “access point,” and there can be no self-fueling on the residential side. There are more arcane rules, but these are the big ones. The PML “Sponsor” is Tuolumne County; in order for the County to apply for FAA funding to maintain the airport, purchase and install an AWOS, etc., it must agree to enforce those FAA rules. In most RTTF locations, each access point (home) is charged an equivalent monthly tie-down fee that must be used by the Sponsor to maintain the airport. If the Sponsor also agrees to implement rules and regulations to cover the rest of the “FAA Grant Assurances,” then the County can expect to receive some $150,000 per year for various projects at PML airport. Since PML is not currently in compliance, we

have received no FAA funding for the last several years. The FAA rules are “problematic” to some residents/users of PML airport. The typical comments are “my property taxes should pay for operation of the airport.” Maybe, but unfortunately that is not happening; there are many more calls on County money for priority uses: police, health, social services, courts, roads, schools, etc. Our property taxes would rise considerably if the County supported every funding request. Over the last few years a few folks, along with previous and present Airport Managers, have been working on understanding and clarifying what is required to comply with the RTTF rules and take advantage of FAA funding for PML airport. At some point, meetings will be held to discuss our options. I encourage everyone to participate in the conversation. It may or may not ultimately be in our best interest to agree to the FAA requirements for funding, but we need to understand the consequences of either option. It is a complicated and emotional topic. More later!

Guess the Airport The answer to last month’s Guess the Airport contest was Half Moon Bay (KHAF).

Half Moon Bay

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2015 Meeting Calendar        

   Date Program Time & Location May 2 Larry Jobe – Flying the Hump 6:00PM location McGowan’s Hangar June 6 TBD 6:00PM location McGowan’s Hangar July No Meeting

BOARD OF OFFICERS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS – 2015 OFFICERS COMMITTEE CHAIRS President, Catherine Santa Maria 962-7904 Property, Ed Peters 962-6267 VP, Airport Affairs, Dale Mueller 962-6308 Multimedia, Phil Hickerson 962-6714

VP, Social Affairs, Kym Purifoy 986-2622 Membership/Roster, Karen Appleby 962-4549

Secretary, Danielle Coelho 962-7207 Airports Manager, Benedict Stuth 533-5685

Treasurer, Kay Smith 303-5385 Display Day Coordinator, Ken Helling 962-7597

Safety, Marle Hewett 962-0701 Newsletter, Susie Williams 962-6922 Webmaster, Silvano Gai 962-6378

Flying Tip of the Month, Mike Gustafson 962-6336

Newsletter Printing, Herman Schaap 962-5797

  PML Aviation Association PO Box 131 Groveland, CA 95321

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